An independent study by the Carmel Group, a consultancy company that researches the media marketplace, projects that revenue generated by digital video recorder (DVR) sales will triple in 2010. The study forecasts that sales of DVRs, related software and services will amount to some $1.3 billion, three times the ’05 total of $375 million. In line with this, household penetration will steadily increase. DVR users will grow to 41 million households in the U.S.–that’s 37 percent of American TV households–by ’08. Looking further ahead to ’10, the projected total is 56 million or 49 percent of U.S. households. At the end of ’05, according to the study, there were 16 million DVR users, a tally that translates to 14 percent of U.S. TV households. Among the companies that will show the greatest increase in DVR sales are: Scientific-Atlantic, the number two U.S. maker of TV set-top boxes; Motorola, the world’s second largest mobile phone maker; and EchoStar, the number two U.S. satellite TV provider. DVR usage carries potentially profound implications for the advertising industry as the technology has the capability to skip right past commercials. However, on the other hand, ad-friendly initiatives are starting to be instituted by companies like TiVO, generally acknowledged as the pioneer of DVRs.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More